Complete with his trademark big-league chew!
This is obviously a few days old now, and it came in the midst of the Royals' worst game all season, but this is, without a doubt, one of the most fun KC baseball moments this season, and since ESPN not only didn't really pay attention to it but also decided to call Tony Pena, Jr. "Carlos Pena" not once, but TWICE (on both SportsCenter AND Baseball Tonight), I'm gonna give Tony his due here:
Please note that the second batter there, the one Tony strikes out, is Pudge Rodriguez. I was cackling with glee when that happened. I'm no Pudge fan, PLUS, he's still quite a good player and quite a good hitter, and for my team's backup shortstop to come into the game and STRIKE HIM OUT? Magic. Hee. I'll never forget that.
So yeah, there it is, my team's weak-weak-weak hitting but slick fielding (look at the play he made on the first batter!) shortstop retires the Tigers 1-2-3 on a night when the KC staff couldn't get ANYONE out. The inning before, "pitcher" Jimmy Gobble gave up 10 runs. In one inning. So that makes Pena's performance all the more remarkable. Since that night, there has been a lot of talk about, should Tony become a relief pitcher since his hitting is so awful? OR, even better, should he become something that I don't think has been seen for a while, a relief pitcher-slash-defensive replacement kind of guy? That's my vote. I want him to be on the bench for his defense, but why not let the guy pitch? He's throwing 91 with movement with zero training at all at this level. What'll he do if the pitching coach works with him for a while? I want to see it. Everyone who watches this team, I think, wants to see it. Why not do something unusual? Why do we have to stick to the same stupid rules all the time? Let the guy pitch. No one really loves Tony Pena right now thanks to that awful batting average, but we do like his defense, and we DO like that inning of pitching. A good extra arm never hurts. And hey, if he can do it, you can carry one less pitcher and one more bench guy. Win-win.
(Edited to add: I also LOVE how the starting rotation - Bannister, Greinke, Meche and Davies - are all over there talking, watching and smiling the whole time. Ha.)
